Yang Will Highlight Research During Arkansas Research Alliance Talk
Dr. Mary Yang, professor of information science at UA Little Rock, will be featured in the next Arkansas Research Academy (ARA) Project Scope Wednesday, April 24.
ARA Project Scope, a monthly webinar sponsored by ARA, invites members of the ARA Academy of Scholars and Fellows to share their latest research with the public. The one-hour webinar is free and open to everyone with a curiosity for science and discovery.
Yang will discuss both her research insights and her efforts to provide more qualified scientists to meet the growing need for bioinformatics expertise in Arkansas. The talk will begin at 11 a.m. April 24, via Zoom. Those who would like to attend can register via this link.
“Thanks to advanced sequencing technologies that quite literally map the entire genome, the amount of biological and clinical data generated in the past decade is overwhelming,” Yang said. “Obtaining and collecting data isn’t the limiting factor anymore; extrapolating meaningful, useful information from the data is the challenge the scientific community faces. We need individuals with the skills necessary to parse and interpret this growing mountain of data. Bioinformatics not only grants us a far better understanding of the world, it has become a major industry – one that Arkansas is poised to lead.”
Yang was named a fellow of the Arkansas Research Alliance Academy in 2023. ARA fellowships recognize scientists and engineers who reside at a university or institution in Arkansas for their ongoing, exemplary contributions to the state’s core research focus areas. Each fellow receives a $75,000 grant to advance their research vision.
Also serving as director of MidSouth Bioinformatics Center at UA Little Rock, Yang received her bachelor’s degree in engineering and physics from Hunan University, followed by a Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, a Master of Science in Experimental Solid State Physics, and a Ph.D. in Computational Science and Physics from Purdue University. She completed her postdoctoral training in human genomics and bioinformatics at the National Human Genome Research Institute and conducted research as a research fellow at the same institution from 2008 to 2012.
Yang has also worked as a professional engineer in software engineering at Shenzhen Electronic Industry and Trade Co. from 1992 to 1995. She has certifications in NIH Post Doctor Completion, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Graduate Studies and Research from John Hopkins University. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Association for Computing Machinery, Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society, and MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society.
She has received numerous awards for her academic and research achievements, including NIH Academic Research Enhancement Awards, the Engineering and Information Technology Faculty Excellence Award in Research, Innovative Research-Education Integration Award from the American Council on Science and Education, Best Research Paper Awards, and Outstanding Tutorial Education Awards from various conferences and societies.
